katrez@gmail.com

Long story short, I started my 'career' in giving public talks. As I live in a country, where illustration exists only in fragmented contexts (mostly children books, some in advertising, but almost nothing in editorial), I thought, I'd better shout out for those wanting to enter this industry and go global, but not knowing where to start. So I've started my "Beyond Inspiration" presentation with an introduction of what illustration actually is, who assigns it in what contexts, and then showed some of "behind the curtain" process points & tricks, revealed some of self-promo strategies and tried to say: be smart, be professional, respect your clients and just do it, find your own 'style' and techniques, don't wait for inspiration to come and do it for you.

The first talk (the first public talking event with me there the a stage actually talking, ever!) was organized in Vilnius by wonderful 5/5/Junior guys (those organizers and event volunteers are amazing!). I was one of 3 speakers that night and the whole thing is happening every 5 Fridays and the list of speakers includes different people working in some sort of visual communication, design, or sometimes other creative industry.

I didn't fit into a format of 20 minutes though. Far from it. So for the rest of my life, I will be thankful to organizers sitting there in the first row and not blinking at me, being very patient and polite, and letting me to believe that everything is ok (I have no sense of time what so ever), though the whole thing lasted for more than 40 minutes plus few more minutes for answering questions. Few hundred people in front of me and a lamp making me almost blind - this is what I call adrenaline.

The best thing is that I gained a lot from this opportunity myself (maybe even more than those who came to listen): though the goal was to share my know-how with everyone else (and I'm very happy to do that), on the other hand, I had a chance to rethink everything I do: how I do it and why I do it. I didn't rationalize my process verbally since my years at uni', and for the first time in my life, a word "mission" crossed my mind. I had to present all I know in some sort of structure, slide after slide, and the thing is, I feel that I've put my thoughts in order and summed up my first five (or so) years as a professional. I like to put my own thoughts in order, as boring as it sounds, but apparently I needed an occasion to actually do that.

So after the talk in Vilnius, I was invited to talk in Kaunas, at a freelancer-hub Talent Garden. Amazing space, way smaller crowd, but: a lot of questions. Which was great. People asking questions after the event are the best people in the world and it makes my day spent on traveling there, giving a talk and traveling from there, so much more meaningful. I hope I managed to shout out my message to these guys, no matter if they were students, junior or senior designers. Everyone is so young in this industry over here in Lithuania - most of our art directors are only in their thirties at most and everyone are ready to conquer the world, so I hope I've put my input into them achieving their their goals in the near future. Thanks to both organizers and everyone who found time to come, I love you guys.P.S. I promise, there were full copyright credits next to illustrations used in the presentation (which was mostly educational, not my own self-promo), and I was assured by organizers, none of the slides will reach internet or will be given to people to share online.

P.S. I rarely travel to Kaunas, but while walking around it's old-town, I couldn't stop thinking: it's so La Grand Budapest style, more Eastern than Central Europe, but still - a lot of pink, a lot of interwar feeling all around the old town - architecture, typefaces, colors - which looks more like a movie scenography rather than an actual place. I always had a feeling that Kaunas peeked in the interwar, and that era never left the city. Take a look yourself:

Pink old town!

getting back from Kaunas by the fast train to Vilnius. Perfect!

And of course, champion's breakfast the next day. Because I'm worth it. Back to work, to actual doing my work as an illustrator, now :)

My birth certificate states Soviet Union as my birth place, though my passport proudly declares it to be Republic of Lithuania.

My country is 25 years old today. And though most of my foreign friends can barely understand what it's like to be older than (an official version of) your own homeland, the concept of freedom is still absolute. Don't take it for granted my friends, whatever part of the world you live in. One day your freedom may end for decades: your words and actions suppressed, your expression (self-)censored.

Though one day the chance for freedom may come back: the hint of it in the air, the taste of it in a mouth, the sound of it in a song, the glimpse of it behind the corner. If it gets so far, no one can stop it.

And then, one can only pray that the rest of the world will support it, as Iceland and Denmark supported Lithuania in 1990 (though it would have been so much more comfortable for them just to go pass us without turning their heads and hearts towards us) and how we, now on the other side of freedom horizon, should support the next ones fighting for the same goals. ‪#‎Ukraine‬

Never try to stop or calm down those rushing to freedom. One day they may become free after all and become a living reminder of your own conformism.

***

P.S. Love this little note by now somewhat legendary film maker Jonas Mekas published in The New York Times, 1990.

Well hello 2015.No, no New Year resolution this year. Ok, no "I'll tell you out loud my New Year resolution" this year. Well ok ok, my resolution is to travel. Here, I said it. Now I'll have to buy a ticket somewhere. To some place that has an old town. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Milan in my list. Tokyo and Hong Kong in my dreams.Until then...After few weeks of holiday-ish family time over here in my hometown Vilnius, I came back to work and in opposite to previous years, January was good to me this time. Here comes few of my recent editorial illustrations for various US clients on Vaccines, Insurance, and.. Aiming for the Stars.

I feel that I'm ending some creative phase recently. I feel like a different person than couple of months ago. Nothing changed dramatically, nothing happened in the outside world, but something clicked inside of me. I felt so tired, so uninspired, so distracted. And then, suddenly something changed. I was drawing this week non stop (wait for new updates later in Feb on that). And I think preparing for a public talk on illustration, that I'm going to give in front of few hundreds young creatives in the end of February, has something to do with that - something was growing in me, but it stuck, and when I rethought everything I know about my work, skills, and creative process, some barrier has melted and I'm working and creating in high gear since then!

Some projects are harder than others. Some are more time-consuming. This was both, but it also was a lot of fun.

Not everyday one gets an email describing in detail something called "Leaky Guts Syndrome" but that was exactly what Experience Life Magazine attached to an email assigning me for this project. There were a lot of small scale illustrated icons assigned, and what I've understood during this process was that small scale doesn't mean less time for generating ideas (normally I offer 3 for every illustration assigned). So though this was a stressful marathon with strict deadlines, great art direction by Lydia Anderson made this so much easier.

I am always very thankful for an opportunity to work on a subject that I've never worked before and in this particular case - allowing a conceptual illustrator like me to enter the field normally occupied by great illustrators specializing in realistic anatomical drawings.

Here are almost all of the illustrations, first bunch describing ways to fix one's guts by healthy eating and bigger changes in one's lifestyle, and the second bunch focuses on anatomic functions of different parts of the digestive tract.

Oi folks, here comes my newest illustration - a rare assigned but unpublished case - a cover illustration for xxx science magazine. The story behind the illustration focuses on RNA shredding technology, that allows multiple and very precise cuts across the RNA chain.

Though the cover was retracted the last minute, I can still say it was a great pleasure to work with such a talented bunch of scientists from Institute of Biotechnology (Vilnius University) who approached the project personally and passionately.P.S. this is a rare case in my portfolio for many reasons, and black background with bright contrasting elements on top of it, is one of those reasons.

Bought the book because of FDR, but fell in love with TR. Got to know ER for the first time really.

All three characters - all being fearless leaders and imperfect human beings in their own ways - may make one feel like one is living the most unproductive, aimless & passion-free life. Out of priviledged background or out of boredom but it seems people just had more time to come up with ways to fill their lives with daily self education and meaningful action those days. In addition to that, I can't believe how well they've documented their own lives by writing diaries and so many letters. One may only wonder where did they find so much time for writing and clearing out their own thoughts in between wars, travels, and daily social & political action.

P.S. Beautifully published book with tons of visual references presented in opposite to most (auto-) biographies I've read before. Perfect for a history nerd with no brain power to remeber names and dates like me.

Oi people, I know I know it's too early to ding-dong about Christmas season, as it's not even a Halloween yet, but this is a message for all those like myself who can't wait any longer, including those, owning a small business and hunting for the best bulk offer for their stores.

I've illustrated these cards last year and as they were the most popular Kata Kiosk item so far, they are available this year too "on popular demand". There are few ways to shop these at our ETSY store:

Oi folks, sorry for disappearing for more than a month, it's been crazy - work work work, plus golden autumn in Vilnius, plus time to read, time to create future something for my own Kata Kiosk, plus time to spend with loved ones. I have no idea where the month has gone, I didn't realize it's getting so cold so soon!Well, but when Variety comes and Variety asks for an illustration, it's an occasion enough to go back to writing a post in the blog. Here are the details and the illustration.Project: The story is about HBO announcing it'll start offering stand-alone HBOGo service without cable, and how that could completely change the TV landscape.

Oi folks, haven't written here about my very own Kata Kiosk for a while, as this year I decided to focus on my editorial illustration career and not to manufacture any new illustrated items by myself, but this does't mean I'm not working on new stuff for 2015-2015 season! The truth is I lost a direction with my Kiosk activities, so decided to stop and think before continuing my greeting cards and souvenirs series.

Big news: Illustration for Josh Weil's "The Great Glass Sea" book review by John Freeman published in this Sunday's The Boston Globe. The book reveals tension between two brothers in the context of sci-fi post-soviet Russia, where they are hired to build gigantic mirrors above the lake to keep the fields owned by oligarch in constant light.

Thank you Kim Maxwell Vu for this opportunity and also for being such a great art director.

New work for Military Officer magazine (MOAA). The illustration is based on an article "Suspicious Mail", a cute story on a grandmother sending her grandson soldier candy corn by mail and him getting in trouble because of it. The story happens in Vietnam era, so the main task was to make this look vintage.

Illustration "Best Cities to Tour by Bicycle" includes New York, Washington DC, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Copenhagen. The story behind the illustration is that this piece initially was a client work (faded blueish background illustration for an article in AAA Traveler magazine), but ended up as a self-initiated further development and an art print which is available in my Society6 store as simple art print, framed one, or printed on stretched canvas.

"Best Cities to Tour by Bicycle" available in my Society6 store as an art print, stretched canvas, and framed print.

This illustration was drawn in vector line on top of a high res texture made of a scanned paper. Before actually starting to work on it, I've researched tons of photos and blueprints of buildings in particular cities. It took ages, as I needed a good front view without any trees or cars or other buildings in front of façades, but it made the actual process of illustrating much faster and enjoyable afterwards, because after the research I knew what I was doing, and all I had to do was sit down and make this happen.

Though you won't find may line-drawings in my portfolio, it became quite obvious very early in the process that in this scale, line was the only way to properly detail the whole thing. You may see above that it got very faded in the final stage and became a light neutral background for an article rather than an editorial illustration, but these process images will show you a level of detail and the amount of work put into this project, that led me into developing a colorful art print afterwards: